Matrix Unloaded

Where is the visual integrity of The Matrix? The hyperreal cinematography that made the film such a beauty? Not in The Matrix: Reloaded, which in comparison looked like a bunch of large fight scenes wrapped in some Phantom Menace-class patter.

The fight scenes didn’t even have a purpose most of the time. Agent Smith can endlessly duplicate and Neo can fly away whenever he wants. There’s nothing more that Neo needs, so why does he stand around fighting for twenty minutes? And in the freeway scene, they’re nominally supposed to be looking for an Exit, but after the first ten minutes they forget that and move on to blowing up large trucks.

Sure, it was a fun generic action movie, but it’s not in the same class as the original.